The Celtics, without Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, not only defeated the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday night, but five Boston players scored 25 or more points for the first time since the 1986-87 season.
Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish were the defending NBA champion starting five 37 years ago. It was starters Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Kristaps Porzingis, as well as backup guard Payton Pritchard, this time.
If you’re curious, here’s the box score from that game on January 13th, 1987 (via Basketball-Reference:
On that night, the Celtics defeated the New Jersey Nets 123-117. Orlando Woolridge led all scorers with 27 points (on the bench, no less), while Buck Williams added 16 and 20 in New Jersey’s loss. Prior to that January 1987 game, the Celtics accomplished the feat three more times.
I wouldn’t mind not having to wait another 37 seasons to see them do it again less than three days later. The Clippers and Celtics will play tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.